


A Fragment of Nightmares

by shadow_oblivion



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Because of Reasons, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Ghosts, Hearing Voices, Light Smut, M/M, Mind Games, Paranormal Investigators, Poltergeists, Possession, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Sequel to A Twisted Game, Shadows - Freeform, and potential for it to crop up in this fic, haunted hospital, is likely, mainly in dreams, mention of non con, mirror phobia, so some dub con, the pairing is in regards to previous fic, two laws and two kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 11:47:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7049182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_oblivion/pseuds/shadow_oblivion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An abandoned hospital was the last place that Eustass or Law would have expected to find reminders of an ordeal they went through half a year ago. But when a routine paranormal investigation begins to have a more sinister edge to it with someone playing mind games, it leaves both men to question what was real and what was just a vivid memory. Modern AU. Sequel to A Twisted Game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Whispering Voices

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I know I haven't finished posting the revised version of A Twisted Game here on Ao3, but wanted this up here in case anyone has read it over on ffn and was curious about a sequel to tie up some loose ends from the previous fic.
> 
> Okay, while I know that I should update other stories, this is something that I've been thinking about for awhile now, though whether people will be interested in it, I'm not sure. But I have this fic now and it's because of DemonFoxGirl1000's review from over a year ago about whether Kid (Eustass) might have 'subliminal memories' after what Doflamingo did to him in the warehouse in A Twisted Game, and about how he would be doing in general after what happened, among other things. It made me think about how I never really precisely resolved how the ordeal would have affected both Eustass and Law in the end, so this is the result.
> 
> I hope to keep the plot more in control so the pacing doesn't lag or stretch on for too long. My guess, guess, is a 50,000-75,000 word fic. There's a beginning, middle and end in mind for the fic (aka it's been scribbled down in a notebook), and the majority of this fic will take place in an abandoned hospital. I wanted a paranormal investigation to be the setting for Eustass to come to terms with things that happened to him, and for Law too, though more reluctantly (while being terrible and making them have more trauma to go through).
> 
> I would say read A Twisted Game first, but since it's such a monster of a story, I'll try and make an attempt to have this fic be able to be read without much input from the previous story. I'll also go over characters and their occupations as I come to them in the fic, (for the most part, character ages are the same as canon unless otherwise stated). For starters, Eustass (mechanic/reluctant ghost hunter) and Law (doctor/surgeon) are the ones who are the alive characters, and were referred to as such in ATG (Trafalgar and Kid were the ghosts/spirits, and will make cameos, hence the distinction). Any future A/N's will be at the end of a chapter (and hopefully not as long as this one).
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing from One Piece. I apparently just wanted to write more psychological trauma and have a ghost haunting where the people investigating will be toyed with.

Eustass Kid didn't believe in ghosts.

_Do you like to play games? Because if that is the case, I know of some good ones._

At least, the red haired man used to not believe in them, until one perfectly ordinary case turned out to be a living hell for him and everyone involved with it. A case that Eustass had not expected to ever experience in his life, nor would he have ever anticipated that he would play host to some spirit that had used his body as their own.

_Oh, what kind of games would those be?_

It still fucked Eustass up every time he woke up, and what was worse, the more exhausted he was, the higher likelihood the red haired man would have to occasionally hear those spirit's voices, like they were somewhere nearby. Only, it was in his head, and Eustass hoped that he was only imagining things, because he didn't think he could handle a repeat of something so fucked up.

_You know, games. Some could be as tame as a hand of poker, others...would be quite dangerous in nature._

Possession had been far from the red haired man's mind when he'd been blackmailed into helping Sabo and Koala run their ghost hunting business. Or paranormal investigations, as they put it, and all because Eustass had mistaken Dragon, their boss, for someone else. The red head supposed it could be worse, but then again, he couldn't think of anything worse then being forced to do something against his will, and still be able to feel it, despite the lack of control.

The whispering voices Eustass could do without. None of the other investigations had ever left a mark like that one did. At most, Eustass might have had the uncomfortable feeling of being followed, or thinking he caught a glimpse of something in the night.

This, however...this was far different and quite a bit more disconcerting.

_I didn't know you were such a sicko, doc._

Tonight, the voices of those two spirits plagued him, and Eustass blamed seeing what amounted to a film reel of Trafalgar and Kid's life before they died. Eustass had been all but forced to watch Kid try to get through to Trafalgar in order to bring him back out of the past. It was a torture to go through, being unseen and unheard, and when Eustass died, he hoped like hell he didn't become a ghost. It didn't seem like any fun, especially if you messed around with the living for too long and caught the eye and attention of someone who could kick your invisible ass.

_And a pirate can't be? I find it hard to believe you've never done something...risky._

Eustass sometimes wondered if some of the snippets of this whispered conversation were unfamiliar. It wasn't like he'd tried to eavesdrop on the life and times of his doppelganger and his lover's lives. He'd just shut it out, mainly, and Eustass hoped he would wake up and that what he had been experiencing at the time was all a terrible dream.

That it wasn't made it that much worse, and the voices made it all the more real.

_I suppose so, but..._

Some nights were worse than others, Eustass mused, as he desperately tried to ignore the whispers and focus on the task at hand. But it seemed that tonight was going to be one of those nights where he got little to no sleep. It didn't help that he was supposed to handle the sensitive ghost hunting equipment carefully and not break it, but the voices were trying his already stretched patience.

_But...?_

Eustass growled low in the back of his throat as he closed a camera in its small container with more force then was necessary, as the whispering continued on as if not giving a damn that he could hear it and was questioning his sanity.

_But I like the way your twisted mind works. I wanna see these games of yours._

_Then follow me._

A few more smaller pieces of equipment, such as the EMF devices and some digital recorders, went into another case, and the red head closed them with a little less force. He waited a moment to see if any more voices in his head were going to hold conversations.

Nothing.

Wasn't that a fucking relief?

A half a year should have been more than long enough for that nightmare of a case to be put out of his mind, as well as that damn whispering in his head. But it was still there, dogging every step of his life, and especially later in the evening, when he was worn out and had no way to filter his thoughts. Eustass felt that those six months should have seen a decrease in nightmares that were the result of that case he'd been roped into helping out on.

But that wasn't the case.

It had been six months since Eustass had felt a ghost touch him. To let him know that the spirit was there, and to make Eustass a believer with every frigid caress of that unseen head.

Eustass picked up the last of the suitcases holding the equipment and carried them out of the room, and headed down a clean, fancy artwork lined hall of some pompous asshole. By the time the red head was to the front door, he couldn't wait to get back to his shitty apartment. Perhaps he might get a decent night's sleep, if he could stop thinking about the past. Stop thinking about what happened and get a move on with his life.

A hand caressing him...a hand touching him where he didn't want to be touched but, being possessed, couldn't prevent the spirits from doing what they would. Eustass stumbled but made it to the van with the trunk's doors open. He hoisted the suitcases in hastily, trying very hard to put the thoughts of what the spirits did during that possession. But between the whispered voices in his head and the soft breeze mimicking a caress of hands, Eustass squeezed his eyes shut and breathed in deeply.

He wasn't going to lose it here; he had to keep it together.

Who knew what Sabo would do. Or Koala, for that matter.

Eustass had been good at hiding his troubles over that hellish case, even though he knew the others had to have known he hadn't brushed it all off like it was nothing. That the memory was still there. The red head sat down heavily in the space that was left in the back of the van, and bowed his head over, trying like hell not to fly in a panic at the memories bombarding him.

It had been months since he was forced to watch and feel his body being used, as Law's was used, for two spirits to be able to physically interact with one another.

To fuck, for the most part, and quite vigorously, at that.

Eustass had sworn off sex for the time being, because when he'd tried to bang the hot chick he'd picked up a month or so after the case was over with, he couldn't go through with it because even having her touch him was too much. Eustass had missed getting laid that night, and every night since all the shit had gone down, and he really wasn't happy about it. Because it was completely different, but even when the red head tired again two weeks ago, he just couldn't do it. Not when the memory of what had happened hit him, and it sucked because he had actually been halfway to fucking either a woman (or a man, he'd been heavily drunk and therefore couldn't remember) and had lost his shit then and there. His bed partner had fled and Eustass had a graphic, humiliating dream later that night when his tired ass was finally home and in bed. It wasn't the best of thoughts, because of who was in the dream that night.

The worst nightmares were when Doflamingo was in them.

And even though it had been months since Eustass had been mistaken for his damn spirit look-alike and was accordingly raped in front of Trafalgar in that macabre themed warehouse full of weapons and traps, it was still vivid in his mind. Even though he had been blindfolded and gagged at the time, Eustass wasn't likely to forget, no matter how hard he tried. It should have been enough that it had happened all that time ago, but it wasn't.

Eustass' hands slid up into his hair and fisted there, hanging onto something solid. To let himself know that he wasn't anywhere near that warehouse, and that his body was his own, and no one was making it do something he didn't want it to do.

But it didn't help. It never did.

It was still there in his mind, and Eustass hated that he was forced to relieve those horrors when he fell asleep. Not every night, but a good chunk of them that made it hard to want to go to bed in the first place.

Even with those spirits of Trafalgar and Kid gone, Eustass still couldn't get any peace of mind. The red head started to tap one of his feet on the ground beneath him as he remained seated in the van, trying to think of anything but those fucking spirits and the hell he went through because of them. The only thing that kept Eustass from completely going over the edge, the red head decided, was work. Though his preferred job in a mechanic shop was on the back burner for the time being, as Sabo insisted more and more over the past two months that he assist in more paranormal investigations, despite the red head's clear reasons why he didn't want to do it.

Being reminded of failed assassination attempts was a pretty low blow, but Eustass admired the thought behind it all the same because that blond ghost hunting bastard didn't hesitate to use that piece of information to his advantage now and again.

Not that any case in the past several months had been anything to be concerned about, so the red head couldn't really complain.

"Hey, Kid, what are you doing? Going to sleep already?" A feminine voice teased.

Eustass' hands slid out of his hair as he lifted his head to give the petite, short haired woman before him a scowl.

It had no effect.

The red head wasn't surprised; Koala wasn't intimidated by him in the least but, and for good reason. She could kick his ass and lay him out on the floor the instant Eustass even so much as made an attempt to grab her with unfriendly intentions. And the reason he knew this was because it had happened before. And the most recent time had actually happened during the course of the current yet now ending investigation, and as much as Eustass wanted to get her back for it, he'd have to leave it for another time.

"Sabo wanted to know if you needed a ride home." Koala was watching him with something between interest and concern.

"I'd rather take the bus." Eustass didn't want anyone to be concerned for him, and he most certainly didn't want a clunky ghost hunting van in the vicinity of where he lived. He'd get laughed at by the idiots he had to live around, and since the red head tended to beat the shit out of anyone that laughed at him, walking a mile or so from the nearest bus stop was much more preferable.

"He said you'd probably say that. Here." Koala pressed a backpack into Eustass' chest, and waited for the red head to take it before stepping back. "There are some cameras and digital recorders Sabo wanted you to look at and see if they're salvageable."

"More work." Eustass grunted, but again, didn't complain about it too much. He liked to work on machines, and it put the more unpleasant thoughts to the back of his mind when he did that.

"Are you all right? You roommate says you're not getting a lot of sleep lately."

Damn Killer and his perceptive nature.

"I'm fine." Eustass hedged as he got up from the van and shouldered the backpack. The red head started to walk away, down the long and winding path of a driveway of the asshole who owned the mansion they'd finished investigating.

"Marco said you could talk to him, Hawkins or Perona about what happened, you know." Koala called after the retreating red head.

"Fuck off." Eustass grated without looking back. "I said I'm fine."

-x

Koala watched Eustass disappear into the distance to catch a bus and side glanced to a hedge. "I told you there's something going on with him."

"I thought so, but it could have been from any of the previous cases. But that reaction..." Sabo emerged from behind he hedge and loaded one last suitcase of equipment into the van, before closing the doors. The wavy haired blond looked over his shoulder at Koala. "It's from the case with those spirits that possessed him and Law, isn't it?"

"It's the only big case we've had in awhile. It's the only one that would make him act...unlike himself."

Sabo smiled slightly, as if he found that statement amusing.

Koala rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "Okay, makes him act different than what we've see of him while working with him."

"Think Kid'll blow a gasket if we have another case in the next few days?"

Koala heard a cell phone go off, and Sabo answered it, retreating a short distance to converse in low tones. When he came back, the petite woman saw another, more obvious smile, and couldn't help but return it. "Another case?"

"Yes, it is."

"Kid'll blow a gasket, all right." Koala confirmed. "Good thing I gave him broken equipment to deal with."

"Should I break the news tomorrow morning?" Sabo asked as he and Koala got into the van.

"Might as well let him get some sleep so he won't be grumpy and scare the client."

"True."

"When are we meeting them?" Koala asked a few minutes later.

"Tomorrow evening." Sabo said. "I doubt this mansion case has any evidence and will therefore be wrapped up by afternoon tomorrow."

"Kid is going to hate you for not getting a full day off."

"I know." Sabo agreed, but he didn't look concerned about the red haired man's reaction to another case so soon after the previous one.

-x

Eustass endured the hour and a half long bus ride to the outskirts of the city, and trudged the last two miles needed to get home. The red head snorted softly over the idea, again, of someone like Koala being cornered about him. It wasn't as if there hadn't been opportunity to bring it up before, but then again, the nightmares had begun a week or two after everything had been settled, and it was then that the full weight of what had happened could really sink in.

It was a bitch, all things considered.

Eustass closed his eyes briefly before opening them as he crossed the street that led to a sidewalk that ran parallel to where he lived.. As the red head made his way toward a run down, walls peeling apart piece of shit apartment, he let out a relieved sigh.

It was home.

And it was better than any snooty mansion in that Eustass was going to be able to do whatever the fuck he wanted and swear whenever he wanted. He'd barely been able to hold his tongue in that mansion he, Koala and Sabo had been investigating, and the only thing that had curbed the potential to swear was the embarrassing throw down he'd had between himself and Koala, who'd sent his ass over a slim shoulder when he'd tried to intimidate the shorter woman.

He'd failed spectacularly and Eustass would be taking that with him to the grave, just like all the other times it had happened, as few as they had been.

The red head paused just outside the front of the apartment, sending a suspicious glance in the direction of a poorly kept parking lot. He could have sworn he'd heard something, but then again, Eustass felt that he heard something all the time ever since that…incident…that led him to realize that ghosts were real, if they so chose to show themselves to the living.

Under certain conditions, according to Marco and Hawkins.

Eustass could have done without ever getting that confirmation of life after death. His life was hell right now because of it, but at the very least, unlike when he had been putting equipment away earlier, he heard no whisper voices inside his head.

With a weary, irritated sigh, the red head shouldered the door open, because it had been ages since the apartment itself had a main lock to keep anyone from just walking in. On the outskirts of the city, no one was likely to come calling, and certainly not any police, as even they were disinclined to come anywhere near this place unless absolutely necessary. So, short of some massacre befalling all the residents, no help would be coming should someone get hurt. Just the way Eustass tended to like his living situation, since he did, on occasion, do some illegal things.

The most recent thing that happened, however, and involved a car, had not been his fault.

Nope, it hadn't been.

And Killer would never find out about it.

The red head stomped down the hall and toward a stairwell, and, after checking to make sure no one was hiding to try and steal from him, again, made his way up to the third floor. Eustass prowled the rest of the way down the hall, his eyes avoiding the area where he had been shot. Or rather, where the ghost Kid had gotten his body shot and Eustass had to deal with the aftermath of that.

Dammit.

Eustass shifted the backpack to his other shoulder and snarled as he jabbed a key into a shitty lock to get into his apartment. The red head forcefully pushed the door open before he shut and locked it moodily at unwanted memories already surfacing once more. But it was three in the morning, and Eustass really wasn't all that surprised that he couldn't keep those thoughts reigned in.

As the red haired man set the backpack on a chair in the small dining room, he realized that the apartment was quiet, indicating that Killer likely had an overnight shift he was covering for someone, either in a bar or elsewhere. The only mercy was that Bartolomeo was no longer living with them, and Eustass didn't have to hear all of the hero-worship the green haired teen had for Ace and Luffy.

Eustass trudged to his bedroom, shedding clothes as he went, until he finally collapsed into bed in nothing but boxers as he let out a relieved sigh. Maybe tonight he'd be able to sleep without being woken up by memories. It would be nice for a change, because the only times the red head could manage any length of sleep was when he was too exhausted to remain awake and would fall directly into a dreamless sleep.

Or maybe Killer just drugged him when he didn't know it. Just like his friend was apparently snitching to Sabo and Koala about his well-being or lack-thereof. The red head wouldn't hold it against his friend if that was the case. He hadn't been sleeping well and couldn't hide it as easily from someone he shared an apartment with.

Eustass did fall sleep that night, and he fell asleep quickly this time around, but it was not a dreamless sleep he fell in to.

-x

_Unseen_ _hands caressed him in a mockery of a caring lover. A voice taunted him and another man in the room, derisive and arrogant over what had happened leading up to this exchange._

_It was the warehouse again._

_It always seemed to come back to that._

_A dark warehouse filled with instruments of death, and a man hellbent on getting what he wanted that he didn't even realize he had the wrong man._

_Trafalgar_ _and Kid may have fucked like rabbits back in the house, and Kid had been an unwilling voyeur as well as receiving the physical sensation, but..._

_But this…_

_In the warehouse.._

_What had happened there was worse._

_Much worse._

_Those large hands forcing him down…_

_Touching_ _him._

_Forcing him to kneel there and take it._

_Unable to fight back._

_Eustass had the most vivid recollection of this particular event._ _Unwillingly, of course, and unable to do anything to stop it._ _Nothing to do but go through the same hell each time he had this nightmare._

_The pain and humiliation._

_The fear._

_The anger of mistaken identity._

_And the sensation of Trafalgar gripping his hand as if in silent apology._

_And yet..._

_And yet, the caresses were different this time._

_More heavy._

_More calculated._

_And worse, curious._

_A voice spoke, as it had many times before, but this time, it wasn't anything that Eustass recalled ever being said. That, accompanied by a blaring alarm that wasn't usually apart of this nightmare, drove Eustass toward waking up. That struggle to wake was aided by the blond's words. It was_ _almost as if Doflamingo were speaking directly to him, and that this dream was not the same as the replay of the warehouse as he was used to experiencing._

'I thought you were gone, just like Law. Are you not?'

_Fucking hell._

_Eustass felt that sounded ominous._

-x

Eustass woke with a harsh gasp, breathing hard and covered with sweat. The red head held still, momentarily confused by where he was, until he realized that he had buried himself beneath the sheets of his bed. Eustass took a few breaths, the blaring from the dream louder now, and the red head was able to put a word to what it was.

Alarm.

Killer must have set an alarm for him. Eustass wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not, and decided, after Doflamingo's worrying, disturbingly clear words in his dream, that he _was_ grateful for the alarm being set in the first place. he didn't want to know if the dream would have changed more had he not woken up so suddenly.

A pale arm snaked out from beneath the sheet as Eustass seized the alarm clock and threw it against the nearest wall. It shattered, and silence reigned, until Killer's voice spoke directly outside of his bedroom.

"I know you have been having nightmares, Kid, but could you try to stop breaking all those alarm clocks?"

Eustass shook the sheets off of his head to snarl at the door wordlessly before he rolled out of bed and gathered up some clothing. He waited a few minutes before exiting the bedroom, snagging a towel as he prowled into the bathroom for a shower. Eustass stayed in the shower longer than usual as he ran his hands through his hair vigorously, hoping the water was enough to remove the imagined touch on his skin, as well as removing the traces of sweat that he'd woken up with.

Satisfied that he was as clean as he was going to be able to get, Eustass toweled off and dressed in sweats as he went into the small kitchen of the apartment, where a plate of food immediately was held beneath his nose. Eustass took the plate and lounged on the couch moodily, traces of the nightmare still lingering in the back of him mind that he strove to ignore. He was rather twitchy that morning, though a glance at the clock in the living room showed him that it was nine in the morning.

Six hours of sleep.

The irony.

Eustass grumpily ate his food and chose to think of it as coincidence. At the very least, he was going to have one or two days off before he had to meet up with Sabo and Koala again, and be dragged into ghost hunting hell. But at the very least, nothing as extreme as half a year ago had happened again. At most there had been cold spots and occasional EVP's that sounded like it might be someone from the other side making contact with the living.

A knock on the front door caused both Eustass and Killer to go for the nearest weapon at hand. It wasn't overreaction considering the area they lived in. What could be a friendly caller could just as easily be someone with murderous intentions. The red head had a hand around a gun, and after exchanging nods, Killer opened a door, a kitchen knife in hand.

Who they expected to see, neither man was sure. Maybe a polite burglar or a blissfully unaware cop. Or one of their neighbors, which would have been a rare occurrence, since most of them kept to themselves. But it most certainly wasn't who was standing there on the other side of the door.

Law.

What a fucked up sight to wake up to.

Upon closer inspection, the dark haired doctor was disheveled, pathetically thin and wore torn and dirty clothing, with dirt smudges on his arms and face. Law had more pronounced dark circles under his eyes than the last time Eustass had seen him, and there was an edge of desperation in those golden eyes.

Eustass struggled to remind himself that this wasn't Trafalgar the asshole spirit, but Law, who'd been possessed by said spirit. It helped that Law didn't look at him anything like Trafalgar had. That possessive edge was nowhere to be found, and for that, Eustass was very grateful.

"I don't suppose I could stay here for a day or two?" Law's voice was tired and resigned, as if he didn't particularly care if the answer was yes or no. "The police are still looking for me for what I did while I was younger, and not for when…" The dark haired man cut himself off, before he shrugged and offered a self-deprecating smile. "I had a job but was discovered, so I had to make a run for it. I don't know where Marco lives, as he was who I was supposed to find, so I came here instead."

It seemed to Eustass that he wasn't the only one who was still affected from being possessed by the mirror image of himself. As to how Law knew where Eustass lived, the red head knew that it was because of those damn spirits as well.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. The police might decide to come around. Kid did hijack a car a week ago…" Killer commented aloud.

"How the fuck do you know about that?" Eustass interrupted before he could stop himself. With a grimace at the unseen yet no doubt judging look from behind the long blond bangs, Eustass sighed and turned to Law. "A day." The red head grunted as he eased his gun down before letting go of it.

Law looked relieved as he stepped into the apartment, but as soon as Killer shut the door, the dark haired doctor's knees buckled out from beneath him and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

"He must have been running for days. I remember the news stories." Killer commented as he picked Law up easily and laid him out on the couch that Eustass had vacated. "He doesn't seem to be doing too well. How did he even make it here in that state?"

"Fucking ghosts." The red head growled under his breath as he stared down at the unconscious Law and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do now. Neither of them exactly had pleasant memories because of those bastards harassing them and possessing them, and seeing one another wasn't likely to improve things.

"Not something you planned on happening on your day off?" Killer questioned.

"Gee, Killer, what the fuck do you think?" Eustass countered sarcastically, and to add to his ire, the red head's cell phone began to ring. The red haired man answered it with a growl of "What?"

Could this day get any worse?

The short answer was yes, it fucking could and did.

' _You're awake already?_ ' It was Sabo _. 'Well, I was going to leave you a message, but I'll just tell you since you answered. We got an urgent case called in. It's at the abandoned Grand Line Hospital. It's two miles from your apartment.'_ Sabo's voice lowered, as if speaking to someone. Probably Koala _. 'Be there this evening at six o'clock. Seven at the latest. Bring the EMF's you brought home to fix the last time. And as many batteries and extra tripods as you can carry. We have a lot of ground to cover.'_

"Hey, wait." Eustass protested, but Sabo had already hung up on him. The red head snarled at the cell phone's blank screen, "Fuck."

"Kid?" Killer ventured, when it looked as though his friend were about to throw the phone.

"Ghost shit tonight." Eustass mumbled, dropping the phone on the kitchen table instead of destroying it. He was displeased at not having the whole day off on top of Law randomly showing up at the apartment.

"Get some sleep before you go?" Killer suggested.

Eustass was going to say 'to have more nightmares?' but cut himself off at the last second and grumbled some curses under his breath.

"You know if you hadn't made the mistake of trying to assassinate Dragon, then-"

"I thought it was someone else." Eustass defended immediately, but he didn't say any more, still unhappy with the whole situation in general.

"You could take him with you." Killer indicated the slumbering Law. "Didn't you hear him say that Marco was supposed to help him be somewhere safe while things were straightened out?"

"Dammit." Eustass cursed again, but knew that it was a good idea. Marco didn't always show up at investigations, but on occasion, he did. In any case, the red head was starting to feel that it was a perfectly shitty start to the day.

The dark haired doctor suddenly woke up with a harsh intake of air before it was let out shakily. Law looked around like he didn't know where he was. But as soon as recognition dawned, the doctor dropped his gaze to his lap and let out a slow sigh. "May I use the shower?"

"Over there." Killer indicated the direction of the bathroom. "Closet in there should have towels." As soon as Law stumbled over and into the bathroom and closed the door, Killer rounded on his friend. "I'll go with you tonight. I don't have any other commitments for the next few days."

"It's usually nothing but static." Eustass countered lamely, but didn't argue against Killer tagging along. If nothing else, his friend might be able to prevent him from trying to get into another fight with Koala.

Eustass brushed past his roommate after it set in that he was going to be doing another case so soon, and went straight for the cupboard full of liquor. The red head opened a bottle and drank from it in several large gulps, reveling in the burn that came from the alcohol as it entered his system. Law's appearance made those memories from before clearer than Eustass wanted them to ever be, when the red head wanted nothing more than for those unwanted thoughts to leave. For those unwanted touches and caresses and whispers, and the revulsion of feeling his body being used by those spirits…used by…

The red head threw the mostly still full bottle away from him with enough force to shatter it, getting wine on his pants in the process, but didn't care because he was desperate for those memories to stop plaguing him.

But they didn't.

They kept coming back no matter what he did to distract himself, be it work or drinking himself into a stupor.

It always came back.

Eustass snarled something unintelligible.

What a shitty way to wake up indeed. First Law, then more ghost hunting via Sabo.

Eustass stalked into his bedroom to change out of wine soaked pants, and when he took them off, he unwillingly caught sight of some scars down the front of his thighs. He knew, if he looked in a mirror, that he would see scars down the left side of his face, his neck, his sternum and waist, as well as thin, jagged scars down his back, all of them courtesy of Trafalgar the fucking spirit who had told him just how much he'd looked like his lover and even used a knife to make them look even more similar and…

The red head rooted through a dresser for pants, making a futile attempt to banish those thoughts. Being awake wasn't much better, considering he had those scars as a reminder of unpleasant events, as well as a body that would occasionally react to those memories, much to Eustass' humiliation and embarrassment.

Eustass shrugged into a tank and a new pair of pants, before he ran a shaky hand through his hair and let out a harsh exhalation and headed for the door to wait for Law to finish his shower and make the suggestion of tagging along on an investigation.

So much for having a day off.

If nothing else, Eustass was pleased that he got something right, and it was how he thought Law would react to him.

When Law finally did emerge from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, the golden eyed doctor was clearly not at all happy to look Eustass in the eye for longer than was necessary, now that he no longer had to run. The red head knew the feeling was mutual, because he couldn't look at Law for very long either.

It was a shitty morning all right, and it wasn't looking like the rest of the day was going to be any better, considering he and Law were likely going to have to see one another throughout the day and into the evening, whether they liked it or not.


	2. Mirrors

Trafalgar Law hated irony.

He'd tried so hard to make sure that his past of smuggling and occasional assassinations didn't follow him into his new life. And even after being very careful, to cover his tracks and secure a real job, his past had caught up with him anyway, and Law's life with a legitimate job was over. No matter what the dark haired doctor now chose to do, Law would never be able to have a normal life because of what Trafalgar, the spirit that had resembled him so much, had done while in control of his body.

And Trafalgar had done those things because of Doflamingo.

Assassination and killing people in plain sight was something Law still couldn't fathom Doflamingo pushing Trafalgar to do, when it wasn't even the spirit that would take the fall for those crimes. Then again, the dark haired doctor had the feeling that he missed a lot of what had gone on between the spirit and Doflamingo. There had been blanks where Law felt as if he had missed weeks of his life, when Trafalgar's spirit had possessed his body.

Law still couldn't quite figure out why his former boss had done what he had done, or why exactly he had been so obsessed over Trafalgar and the other spirit that had been residing in the house that Law had been renting. The last the dark haired doctor had seen of Doflamingo was in a house in the woods, and when he had woken, the man was gone and Law had found himself in the company of Marco and Hawkins instead.

The doctor wanted more explanation from Doflamingo, but doubted, for the moment, that the other man would come out of hiding for him. It was far more likely that Law would receive a call from an unknown number when Doflamingo had found somewhere to settle down, out of sight of the police that were searching for him. Marco seemed to be looking for Law's former boss as well, and the doctor couldn't get an answer from him either.

Marco...

Law would need to find the man to try and get help in finding somewhere to lie low for a time, until things could be sorted out. The previous place had been great, until that one person recognized him and spilled the beans, prompting Law to flee with only the clothes on his back.

The dark haired doctor tried not to think about how he'd gotten lost in the woods for a few days before finally snagging a map at a rest stop off a highway. He'd used that map to find his way to that rundown apartment in the middle of nowhere, at the edge of the city he'd moved to before, and used the slim hope that Eustass Kid wouldn't immediately turn him back out on his ass. After all, Law wasn't sure how the red head would react to seeing him again, and considering how their first meeting went, the doctor had good reason to be wary.

Then again, Eustass mistaking him for his doppelganger of a ghost wasn't all that surprising, and Law supposed he couldn't really blame the red head's rather violent reaction of trying to choke him. Especially not after the spirit had harmed Eustass with a knife and left lasting scars that wouldn't do any good in making that particular memory fade.

But Law had nowhere else to go but into police custody, so he made the gamble and knocked on the apartment door labeled 32. The doctor had been so downtrodden and hungry that when the door opened, he didn't bother doing much more than make sure he'd gotten the right people before asking for a place to stay. Eustass' growl of agreement in the form of specifying a day was a relief, and as soon as Law had stepped into the apartment and heard the door close behind him, the doctor knew that he was safe, for now.

He promptly fainted, much to his mortification, as the short reprieve he'd been given sunk in. It was unfortunate, because Law avoided sleeping when he could as of late, hence his haggard appearance.

Dreams, after all, were no longer welcome to the dark haired surgeon.

-x

' _I thought you weren't going to leave me.'_

_It was the same dream._

' _Where were you, Trafalgar?'_

_Or rather, one of many nightmares that involved Kid and the spirit's near constant harassment once Law had caught sight of him in a mirror._

' _I know that you can see me.'_

_When the dark haired doctor knew, for sure, that there was a ghost in his house, and it, in return, knew that he knew it was there._

_That was when everything went to hell._

' _I won't let you go.'_

_The hands, one flesh, one metal, caressed his skin, the same as always. And just the same, Law couldn't get away, held firmly in place by those hands. No matter how much the doctor protested in these too real dreams, that he wasn't the person Kid wanted, there was no escape._

' _Don't lie to me.'_

_Kid was as in denial as he had been when Law had shown him newspapers and the like to inform him that he was dead. And the red haired ghost still insisted that Law had his lover somewhere in his mind._

' _I know you're there.'_

_Law couldn't stand these dreams. Seeing them. Living through them night after night. Reliving the same hell he'd been forced to go through while he'd been awake._

_The touching._

_The groping._

_And embarrassingly enough, the sex._

' _I won't let you out of my sight.'_

_It was the same since Law had started having these nightmares, but this time…this time, things changed._ _Because while it had started out with the red haired ghost groping him and whispering his insistence that Law was someone else, it changed, and soon, Kid was gone altogether._

_And in his place, Doflamingo appeared._

_Or rather, two larger hands, neither one metal in sensation, touched his bare shoulders, running along them lightly. But thankfully, it didn't appear to be sexual in nature, at least until the voice spoke. It was Doflamingo, all right, and his voice was curious, though with an edge to it. The voice was also much clearer than Kid's had been, and focused._

_Almost...aware._

'Which Law are you?'

_Naturally, the dark haired doctor couldn't say anything in the dream, despite how very much he wanted to assure Doflamingo that he was not the spirit of Trafalgar, because Law guessed that the spirit and Doflamingo had had a very different relationship than subordinate and boss._

_It seemed that the Doflamingo in this dream was rather sure in his assumption of who Law happened to be._

_He was wrong._

'I thought you went to the land of the dead.'

_Those large hands roamed somewhere much more intimate, and Law squirmed internally._

_He wanted, needed, to wake up._

'Or was that all a trick? Did you get Marco to shield you, then help you find a way to come back? Was that apology you gave to me a lie, to throw me off?'

_Law managed to squeeze his eyes shut when teeth bit down lightly on a shoulder, one large hand palming his dick with a very clear intention, the blond's voice forceful and demanding._

'Tell me.'

_Having his former boss give him a hand job and explore his neck with vicious intent woke Law up a lot faster than Kid harassing him as had happened in previous nightmares._

-x

Waking up in terror with people around to see it made Law rather self-conscious, and his wired mind quickly latched onto asking for use of the shower. It was the only thing the doctor could think of where he would have some privacy to calm down.

Neither Killer nor Eustass seemed inclined to ask what had woken him up.

Law went where Killer indicated the bathroom was, and the doctor was glad of the retreat he'd made into that room. Law needed to collect his thoughts, and remind himself that nothing was going to happen to him. That the spirits were gone, and no one was going to possess his body ever again. Law needed to be alone, however briefly, because he couldn't bear to look at Eustass without having silent panic rise within him, despite knowing that the red head wasn't going to harm him.

At least, that was the impression the doctor had.

Law soaped up and scrubbed the dirt off his arms and face, reveling in being clean for the first time in days. He was far thinner than he would have liked, and it was the result of all of those nightmares, coupled with long work hours to counteract them. It left little time to actually take care of himself.

Sleeping was even worse than it had been before. The dark haired doctor never had much luck with getting to sleep, and now it was damn near impossible to get through the night without waking up at least once from unpleasant memories. Law ran his fingers along his scalp, working in the shampoo vigorously to get the last traces of dirt and a few tiny leaves out of it. He was feeling better already, and of course, that was when he chose to linger on what had woken him up.

Doflamingo.

The dark haired doctor braced an arm against the nearest tiled wall in the shower, shifting uncomfortably at what had happened in the dream. Law took a glance down, and closed his eyes, a hint of an embarrassed flush crossing his cheeks. Apparently his body was still reactive to anyone touching him, whether or not it was reality or in a dream. Law fidgeted, incredibly reluctant to touch himself to get rid of his half hard dick. It was bad enough that it was Doflamingo in a dream that had prompted it, but another thing altogether for it not to go away after he'd woken up.

Embarrassing.

To make matter worse, lingering on the nightmare only made Law recall that the Kid in his dream had also been touching him. And considering that Eustass, who was outside of the bathroom, looked so much like the near daily nightmare of the red head that was in them...

Law let out a slow sigh. It was hard to distinguish the two red heads, since they looked so alike. Law let his head rest just below the arm bracing himself against the wall and let out a softer sigh. It seemed like he wasn't going to be able to ignore his dick after all.

Again, embarrassing.

With a quick peek at the closed door through the curtain of the shower, Law let his free hand drop down to take his cock in hand. He got some relief from just moving his hand along, but the process was made quicker when Law's thoughts unfortunately lingered on Eustass and the way he had handled Trafalgar when the red head had brought him to his apartment, and knew that Law's body was still being controlled by the spirit. Law thought about the way that Eustass had tricked Trafalgar into thinking that he was his lover, by pinning him to the couch and grinding up against him, to distract him.

Law squeezed his eyes shut, his breath hitching as his hand made surer movements. Even if Eustass had not intended to do anything, Law, forced to take a back seat in his own body, had felt Trafalgar responding to Eustass' actions. And in turn, Law experienced a sense of arousal and lust that was not his own, and felt ashamed that he was thinking about Eustass at all while he hurriedly tried to jack off. And to add to the humiliation of the situation, the red head in question chose to check up on him in the moment, catapulting Law closer to the edge, and confusing him even more.

"Oy, Trafalgar, you aren't trying' to drown yourself, are you?"

"No." Law managed to keep his tone level, even though his body was screaming at him to make incriminating sounds as he got himself off. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Just checkin'. Killer said he didn't want to deal with a body."

"He won't have to." Law confirmed, and believed that Eustass had left, until the red head's voice sounded outside the door again.

"Got something to talk to you about when you're done in there."

Law made some hum of agreement, because he didn't trust himself enough that he wouldn't just whine something instead. He was very aroused, and was confused as to why, and hoped like hell that it wasn't because of Eustass. Law recalled, again, the way that Eustass had touched Trafalgar and breathed against his neck, which had turned the spirit on even more. And it subsequently turned Law on against his will, since he was still subjected to the sensations of his own body.

At that lovely thought, Law came, and, tanned skin flushed with embarrassment, cleaned up the evidence. Though he was no longer hard, the dark haired doctor now had another problem to deal with. The reaction he had to the thought of Eustass, which wasn't nearly as repulsive as his reactions to Kid, who had been harassing him.

Law honestly wasn't sure he wanted to know why.

The doctor shook his head and located a towel in a closet that had been mentioned. Law dried himself off, before he wrapped the towel around his waist securely. Eustass had said that he wanted to talk, and Law figured that the red head likely wanted some answers. The only thing was, Law wasn't sure that he would be able to look the red haired man in the eyes without remembering in vivid detail how Eustass, and not the spirit that looked like him, had been on Law's mind while the doctor had jacked off.

When Law exited the bathroom and headed into the living room, he found Eustass lounging on the couch. But as soon as they made eye contact with one another, the dark haired doctor knew there was going to be some trouble. He couldn't look the red head in the eyes, as he'd suspected, and Law knew it was because the longer he stared at the red head's scarred features, he was only further reminded of Kid and the way that the spirit had harassed him and made his life a living hell.

It was hard to separate the man before him from that spirit, and from the way Eustass couldn't look him in the eyes for very long in return meant that the red head likely had a similar problem. This could be a bit more trouble than either of them would like to deal with, but if they couldn't even manage a conversation, nothing would get accomplished.

Law closed his eyes briefly, look a deep breath and let it out. When he opened his eyes, the dark haired doctor kept his gaze locked on the red head's nose, as that was easier to stare at than those amber eyes. Even if they didn't have the mocking, possessive edge in them, Eustass' eyes looked too similar to his doppelganger's.

"So, Eustass-ya, what did you want to talk about?"

The red head seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, before he gave a shrug to whatever it was that had briefly bothered him and offered a half grin. "Since you're on the run from the cops and I got to go to work later, thought you could come along."

Law assumed that Eustass meant the half smile to be non-threatening, but as it was far too similar to how Kid would grin in the damn mirrors or his dreams the doctor had seen him in. The smile Eustass gave Law did nothing but shut down half his mind to prevent himself from panicking, while the other half desperately made the attempt to use logic and reason to convince the doctor that nothing bad would happen. Law needed to remember that Eustass wasn't the red haired ghost. That Eustass wouldn't hurt him like Kid had. At least, Law hoped that would be the case.

"Where would this work be?" Law queried, as soon as he trusted himself to speak.

Eustass stopped smiling, as he clearly noticed Law's discomfort, and didn't know what to do about it. So, he seemed to focus on the question instead. "The old abandoned Grand Line Hospital."

"Why would you work there? It's abandoned because it hasn't been functional in over fifty years." Law gave Eustass a funny look as if he were pulling his leg.

"Remember Sabo and Koala?" Eustass prompted, not seeming too put off by the doctor's reaction.

Law recalled and promptly dismissed the house he'd met them in from his mind. He wanted to keep a clear mind and thinking about the place he rented too much made him spiral out of control and dangerously close to la-la land. "Why would you go there?"

"They do paranormal investigations. They're being called in to go investigate the hospital, starting this evening, for some interviewing about the place. Probably." Eustass explained, sounding like he was being more patient than he would normally choose to be.

"And why would you want to go anywhere that could possibly haunted after what happened?" Law demanded, and glared at Eustass as he made brief eye contact as he continued, sounding incredulous, "And why in the world would _I_ want to go with you to…to go look for…for ghosts? On _purpose_?"

"Because it's my job, unfortunately." Eustass grunted in reply.

"I am not going anywhere near that hospital. You can't make me." Law said firmly. The dark haired man was well aware that right now, he was wearing nothing but a towel, and Eustass outweighed him. The red head was also taller by inches, so if he wanted Law to go, the red head could always toss him over a shoulder and make him go. "I will stay here." Law shut his mouth and warned Eustass off with a withering glare. He was never stepping foot anywhere remotely near something claiming to be haunted. He didn't need any more nightmares. Eustass was clearly unstable if he chose to go hunting ghosts after being possessed and subsequently raped because of it.

"I'm not going because I want to. And Killer's going with me this time. You wouldn't want to be here alone, knowing the kind of area it is." Eustass said. He seemed a bit perplexed as to why Law backed into a wall to curl against it defensively, and added, "I'm sure my neighbors and the people that might be out roaming the streets saw you come here. If they see me and Killer leave, you'll be fair game."

Law's eyes locked onto the front door, and his voice came out as apprehensive. "There's a lock."

"A lock anyone could break through." Eustass countered with a derisive snort.

"I'm not going." Law repeated firmly, his back still to the wall. An anxious feeling swept through him, and even more so when the red head got up off of the couch and started to make his way over to him. The dark haired doctor pressed his back as hard as he could against the wall, stopping just short of letting out an embarrassing yelp when Eustass grasped his right wrist, which the red head used to keep him from moving away from the wall. When the red head didn't do anything but stand there, Law hesitantly opened his eyes and peeked up, unfortunately meeting Eustass' eyes for too long as he let the other man see the fear and alarm in them. The dark haired doctor hastily dropped his gaze, though Law twitched when Eustass' grasp tightened, even though it was likely a subconscious act as the red head started to gripe at him.

"What the fuck is your problem? Why'd you look at me like that?" Eustass demanded.

Law couldn't speak; the raised voice was enough to send the doctor into a panic because it was the kind of tone that Kid would use when Law desperately tried to tell him that he wasn't his lover. Law discreetly made the attempt to free his wrist from the other man's grasp. To duck away and put as much distance between them as he could, but Eustass' grip was like iron. Law wasn't going anywhere.

"I'm not that fucking ghost!" Eustass continued on, unfortunately making things worse by seizing Law's other wrist and forcing the doctor's arms against the wall to loom over him in an attempt to make eye contact again. That Law wouldn't look at him only seemed to make the red haired man angrier. "Dammit. I know those fucking bastards looked like us, but we're not the same."

"Stop." Law's voice was barely a whisper, the dark haired man unable to prevent himself from quivering as Eustass began to stray even further into being too much like the spirit that had harmed and traumatized him.

"Look at me." Eustass growled, and he sounded, if possible, even more pissed off than before. "Look at me, damn you."

"No." Law's voice was inaudible. The red haired man's grasp was bordering on painful, but luckily, before Law could break down into a complete mess, Eustass' roommate intervened, seeing what the red head couldn't.

"Let go of him, Kid. You're scaring him, which I don't think was really your intention." Killer's voice was level, but firm. "Let go. Now, Kid."

Law felt Eustass abruptly let go of his wrists, and as soon as the dark haired doctor realized just how badly he'd been shaking, he sank to the floor and drew his legs to his chest. Even though he only had a towel around his waist, Law rested his forehead on his knees as he wrapped his arms around his legs to take in a few shuddering breaths.

"Fuck."

The dark haired doctor heard Eustass curse softly, and it was clear that the other man realized what he'd been doing. And that he _had_ been making things worse. Law was relieved that Eustass kept his distance, because the red head's actions were far too close to Kid's that Law had forgotten, in an instant, that it was Eustass that had seized his wrists, and not a spirit that had looked like him. Law took another deep breath and let it out, desperately trying to calm himself. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he felt a little sick.

How on earth did Eustass think either of them could stand to go somewhere reportedly haunted? There weren't any ghosts around them right now and they were both a mess.

It was a bad idea.

Law flinched when a hand lightly tapped his shoulder, but it was not Eustass' voice that spoke.

"When you're able to, you can go into Kid's room and find some clothes. There should be some smaller clothes that he still keeps around even though he can't wear them anymore." The blond's voice sounded next to Law, indicating that Killer had crouched down to speak to him.

Law could only manage a nod. He needed more time to collect himself. It took far longer than the dark haired man would have liked.

A half hour, in fact.

Ten minutes more to get to his feet, and, without looking at the red head brooding on the couch, Law went into Eustass' bedroom instead in search of something to wear. The room was dimly lit by the light streaming in from what little of the curtains had been drawn back. But it wasn't dark enough that Law would begin to question his sanity if he thought he saw a shadow move.

A mind was a funny thing, and the doctor knew it could play tricks if he was too worn out. So, Law resolved to get what he needed from the room, and leave. What gave Law pause right before he dove into Eustass' dresser drawers was the floor length mirror in one corner of the room. Why the red head would have such a thing, Law didn't care, but he found that he was always unnerved and jumpy when faced with one, after what had happened in the place he'd rented. Even a brief peek at his reflection in the semi-dark room was enough to have the hair rise on the back of his neck when the doctor turned his attention to the dresser.

He'd just have to ignore the sensation.

Law knew he was imagining things. His mind was telling him there was something there, because there had been in the past.

But not anymore.

Not that Law could tell, anyway, because he avoided mirrors as often as he could, and just walked by them quickly if he had to in the hospital he had worked in, until he'd been forced to make a run for it.

But back to his main reason for being in that room.

Clothes.

The doctor went through the clothing in the dresser to find something that wouldn't drape on his frame too much. It took some time, but Law managed to find a nearly fitted, black T-shirt with the words 'fuck off' splashed across the front in large neon yellow print.

The dark haired man felt it was appropriate, given the situation.

Law was even happier to find a pair of jeans that, while they hung low on his hips, didn't trail over his feet when he used a plain black belt from the closet to hitch it around his waist. His own shoes, while dirty, would do. He doubted either Killer or Eustass would have something his size anyway.

The doctor looked over his shoulder at the mirror in the corner of Eustass' room, and with a resigned sigh, cautiously stood before it to scrutinize his appearance. With a quick peek in the mirror, and keeping his gaze firmly on his own reflection, Law his hands through his hair and gave the still damp hair a brief shake. Deciding relatively quickly that the hair was a lost cause, Law left it alone. Just as the doctor turned to leave the room, he unwillingly faced the large mirror again, and let his eyes rove over his own reflection a little more closely. While Law had avoided looking for too long in a mirror out of fear of seeing Kid reflected there and ready to taunt and harass him again, the doctor's gaze lingered briefly.

Law knew he was pathetically thin and that he was in serious need of a shave, but apart from that, he really ought to at least try to eat better if he couldn't sleep as well as he used to. Or at least, get as much as he'd been able to before ghostly interruptions had made rest less frequent and hard to come by. Law briefly searched his own face, and decided that since he had only gotten at best a few hours of rest in the past few days, that his own reflection didn't seem right.

It was odd, but then again, the doctor hadn't really been able to get a good luck at himself in the past several months. He'd been too busy working to keep his mind off of other things and at minimum keeping his facial hair trimmed as he liked it.

Most unfortunately, as Law headed back toward the door, he caught sight of another mirror on top of the dresser and could see his reflection there as well. With a frown, Law went over to the dresser and looked at himself in the mirror there, determined to show himself that there was nothing to be concerned over. That he was being silly. Law was about to look away when he thought he saw movement in the other mirror. Law stared, and his heart leapt in panic when it looked as if his reflection in the other mirror had...moved while he'd been still.

Law quickly spun toward it, and cautiously made some movements with his arms. His reflection mimicked him, down to his strained features. Law let out a shaky breath and stepped toward the mirror, until he was almost right in front of it, then stepped away and looked over his shoulder at the other mirror.

His face seemed to take up too much of the mirror and was too detailed for how far away he stood from the smaller mirror...

Law immediately closed his eyes and took in a slow breath before he let it out. When he opened his eyes, Law reasoned, he would see the reflection as it should be. It was just a trick of the light, or the few shadows it cast, in that room. Law opened his eyes, and wasn't reassured in the least bit.

The mirror didn't even reflect his face, because all the mirror could reflect were his feet from where he currently stood.

Law swallowed down the panic welling within him, and decided he needed to leave this room before his own mind fucked him over and left him a gibbering mess. How the hell could even Eustass sleep in the room with those mirrors? With another, longer breath to calm himself, Law turned back to face the floor length mirror and squared his shoulders.

"You're imagining things. Mirrors only reflect what is in front of them." Law told his reflection firmly. "There's nothing wrong with you but lack of sleep and regular meals."

_'Are you sure that's all?'_

Law froze completely in place. That voice…that whisper…it had sounded suspiciously like his own, but for the arrogant and smug tone.

No.

No, no, no.

He was gone.

That spirit, Trafalgar, was gone.

Marco and Hawkins had said so.

Lack of sleep.

Yes, that was all. Law was just imagining things because he was so exhausted, which meant he just needed a good night's sleep, nightmare free, and he'd be fine. There was nothing to…

Law could have sworn he saw his reflection smile sharply at him then and there in the floor length mirror, and more worryingly, had taken a step forward as if to reach out to him. The hand had started to rise, or at least, Law thought it had, but it could have just been because he had raised his hand as well as he started to back away, even more startled and panicked than before. But when Law confirmed the sight of the smirk in the mirror in the half shadowy room, and the fact that the hand seemed to extend, shadowy and unnatural, in his direction, the dark haired doctor did the only thing that seemed to make sense in that instance.

When prompted about the incident later, he would blame lack of sleep and vehemently deny seeing anything at all.

For the time being, Law scrabbled backward into the opposite wall of Eustass' room and let loose a loud scream the likes of which he hadn't allowed himself in months. The sound was full of raw terror, as Law was certain that in that moment, his own reflection was about to reach out of the glass to drag him kicking and screaming into the mirror to relive the hell that he had gone through all those months ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Have I ever said just how much I love ghost stories/movies with horror, angst, tense situations, worrying things and psychological mindfucks in them? Especially in the setting of an asylum, or hospital, which is most certainly going to have room half full of mirrors in this fic, for Law to deal with. Because I absolutely love to mess with characters psychologically (help, the fic is already 10,000 plus words in!). Getting to the hospital itself will happen in the next chapter. This fic might be one of those rapid fire update fics after all, but don't hold your breath on quick updates if they don't happen (rainy days seem to be good writing days though).  
> Also, based off of the previous fic and all, there is potential for characters to be a mix of IC and OOC.
> 
> Funnily enough, while horror movies are great for inspiration, I've realized that they're also the main reason why I no longer keep or have any mirrors in my bedroom.


	3. Doubts and Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fic is kind of slow to start off with, but it should be moving along by the end of the next chapter. I'm trying to get the groundwork done and over with so I can get back to traumatizing Law and Eustass.

Eustass had been wondering why the hell Law was taking so long to find clothing when the scream rang out. The red head startled out of the couch and onto the ground at the sound of, though he was partway to the door before Killer reached out and grabbed him by the arm. Eustass shot his friend a look for stopping him like that, and the promptly remembered exactly who he would be seeing in his bedroom that had screamed.

Law.

Why had Eustass even reacted like that in the first place? If the doctor wanted to scream like he was being tormented by something, Eustass wasn't so sure that he wanted to interfere. The red haired man wouldn't want anyone to see him scream, and Eustass figured that Law wouldn't want to be seen either. Especially not by Eustass himself.

"I'll check on him." Killer said simply as he let go of the red head's arm. "You going might make things worse."

Eustass knew Killer was right; it wouldn't do any good for Law to see someone that looked so much like a person that had tormented him before. Not that Eustass could be sure that was the reason for the scream, but really, there wasn't much else he could think of that would scare the doctor like that. Law just didn't seem like the kind of person who would scream so easily, if at all. Eustass leaned against the wall leading into the hall to wait as Killer entered his bedroom. The red haired man couldn't hear much of what was going on in the room, but he could make out the tone of the voices due to the mostly open door.

Law's somewhat hysterical mood, the red head noted, was countered by Killer's calm and collected one.

There was no more screaming, which was a relief, because it had been a sound that the red head had not head in a good long while. The sound of someone terrified out of their mind by something indescribable. Eustass recognized the feelings behind the scream, because he himself had had the same raw terror when he had realized, through Trafalgar's cold presence, that ghosts were real after all, and not just a figment of someone's imagination. And the fact that Eustass had lost the will to make any sound at all the longer Trafalgar had lingered almost on top of him was a memory that he could do without.

Could do without the reminder that he couldn't call for help, even if he'd wanted to.

Could only make tiny sounds of discomfort as Trafalgar whispered to him.

Touched him.

Could only...could only...

A memory of Traflagar's smooth voice as the spirit had whispered in his ear in the basement of Law's rented home drifted unbidden in his mind, the words more clear than the red haired man would have liked.

_It's too bad that you aren't the Eustass-ya that_ I _know. If you were, I would fuck you senseless until you begged me to stop. Or to keep going, depending on his mood._

The reminder of just how much Trafalgar had touched him as a spirit he couldn't see made Eustass shudder. He could still feel it, when he couldn't help himself. Feel the way that Trafalgar had ran his unseen fingers through his hair, and then lower, making lewd remarks despite Eustass trying his damnedest to get the spirit to leave him be.

It hadn't helped in the least bit, nor was it easy for the red head to dismiss those thoughts now, as the whisper of a voice came back, muted more than before.

_I would have, could I have touched you more. So much like my Eustass-ya-_

"Fuck off." Eustass growled under his breath, and to his relief, there were no more voices after that. It should have been a relief, but it really wasn't, because the red head had no idea when it would happen again. He hadn't even told Killer about it, because he wasn't sure he wanted his friend to think he was insane for hearing things other people didn't. Knowing his roommate, though, Killer might try to be helpful and would accept Eustass' words without much question.

Eustass closed his eyes briefly before he opened them and his amber gaze drift to the bedroom. The red haired man had a feeling that Law would deny screaming at all and would keep quiet over what had caused him to let loose such a sound in the first place. Eustass knew this because he knew that had it been him, he'd deny things as well, as the red head wouldn't have wanted to be seen as weak or scared over something that wasn't there.

A few minutes passed, and from what Eustass could tell, Law had calmed down marginally, and it likely helped that Killer had turned the bedroom lights on as soon as he'd stepped foot inside. There was a stretch of silence that had Eustass almost, almost step toward the room, when Killer emerged, his mouth set in a grim line, as if he had seen something that hadn't agreed with him. Law followed along after him, and Eustass could see that Law's eyes were wide and staring as if he had just seen a ghost.

Eustass hoped that wasn't the case; he could do without ever seeing spirits like Kid or Trafalgar again. Eustass' jaw set at the mere thought, and while he was trying to put that out of mind, as well as the faint wisp of words in his head that threatened to drive him mad, the red haired man could tell, quite plainly, that Law was still struggling to calm himself down. Killer watched Law enter the living room, and without looking in Eustass' direction, spoke. "What did you see?"

"I saw nothing." Law's voice had a sarcastic bite to it. But unlike the dark hared doctor's words, his body language said otherwise as he curled up on one side of the couch to stare unseeingly in the direction of Eustass' room. From Law's expression, it appeared as if the man thought that the gates of hell had been opened up inside the red head's bedroom.

Talk about being overly dramatic.

It was purgatory, at best.

"So, Trafalgar." Eustass sensed an opportunity and spoke casually as he remained against the wall. "Do you really want to stay here on your own while Killer and I leave?"

"I'll go." Law broke his gaze from the room to briefly look at Eustass, before his eyes settled back on the open bedroom door, "I will not set foot in that hospital though."

Eustass took that for what it was, and decided to go in his room to see what the fuss was all about. The red head shrugged his shoulders in a stretch as he pushed away from the wall. "Gonna go get my wallet." Eustass spoke casually, though he sure as hell didn't miss the way Law took in a sharp breath, as if the red head were insane to go into the bedroom. Eustass even half closed the door once he was inside, before he turned to sweep his gaze around the entire room. He saw nothing that should have caused that kind of reaction from Law. Not a thing in that room should have caused the dark haired man to scream in such a terrified way.

Nothing.

There was nothing at all.

No cold spots.

No whispering voices.

No sense of impending doom.

Eustass' eyes lingered on the mirror on his dresser, and then on the floor length one. Eustass stepped before the mirror to study his reflection, before he sneered at his own reflection, scarred up as it was. "The fuck are you staring at?" Eustass's sneer morphed into a lazy grin as he began to leer at the mirror instead. He liked this mirror quite a lot. It was stationed perfectly to reflect the bed behind him so that he would be able to watch the face of the person he would fuck. Not that Eustass had had any partners as of late. Not after the whole ghost fiasco.

What a pity and waste of such a great set up.

Eustass stared at his reflection some more and wondered if maybe, just maybe, Law had been startled by his own reflection. Eustass gave his reflection the middle finger and then walked up so close to it his nose almost touched the glass. Eustass grinned at himself and lifted a finger to tap the mirror. "Knock knock motherfucker, anyone home in there?"

Naturally, his reflection did nothing in response but grin as Eustass grinned.

With another few taps of the mirror, Eustass rolled his eyes at what he was doing and turned away from the mirror. As the red head snagged the wallet off the dresser, Eustass flicked the light switch off, and closed the door.

Had Eustass looked over his shoulder at the mirror as he left, he would have seen his reflection remaining where it had been before.

In the now dim lighting of the room, the shadows seemed to leap out from all corners that weren't touched by the light. Eustass' reflection had remained in place, but as the light went out, the figure turned to watch the door shut.

A dark grin stretched Eustass' reflection, and a hand lifted toward the glass to mimic the red head tapping the mirror. And more disturbingly, though the figure said nothing, the taps to the glass sounded exactly like Eustass' earlier ones had been. The hand was lowered, and Eustass' reflection slowly walked out of the frame, as if it hadn't been there at all.

A laugh sounded from out of nowhere, and a voice, unable to be pinpointed as to who exactly it belonged to, echoed within the room.

_There is someone home in here. It's a home for shadows._

No one in the apartment heard anything, despite the resounding crack that split the floor length mirror from top to bottom.

'Someone is home' echoed in a mocking way throughout the room.

Then it was abruptly silent, as if nothing had happened, and the shadows, which had appeared menacing as they stretched out all around the room, retreated to something more akin to what a room would display with such little lighting.

-x-

Eustass had to admit now and again that his roommate was an evil genius. Because as soon as Law had calmed down marginally, Killer had offered food after he'd asked Law if he had eaten and the doctor had said that he had not. Eustass had grinned appreciatively of his friend's sly actions, because as soon as Law had finished eating, the doctor had grown tired, and, despite clearly fighting that sudden exhaustion, gave in and fell asleep on the couch.

"Why did he scream?" Eustass question his roommate once he saw that Law wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

"I'm not sure." The long haired blond shook his head. "As you probably noticed, he won't say what he saw. Only that it was nothing."

That was convenient. Law had clearly seen something, but even Eustass knew that it would be no use prying into things if Law had no intention of speaking about it. After all, there were things that Eustass didn't want to talk to other people about either.

-x-

Eustass and Killer could both tell that Law had calmed down by mid-afternoon, though that could have just been because of the couple hours of a drugged nap he'd been forced to take. That little rest, however, had appeared to do wonders, because there was no trace of fear in Law that had been there before when he'd woken up, and that pointed to no nightmares.

Law did, however, appear suspicious of Killer when he ate food that was offered, although he wolfed it down once he saw that Killer and Eustass were eating it from the same pan that the long haired man had gotten a plate of it for the doctor. That relatively good mood, however, was ruined as soon as Eustass opened his mouth to remind the doctor of the evening's plans.

"We might as well get to the hospital before Sabo and the others. Get the perimeter check over with." Eustass grumbled something and then sighed. "I don't wanna waste time trying' to find teenagers or squatters in the dark."

Law's expression became one of apprehension, as if he were opposed to the idea. All calm vanished as soon as the dark haired man saw Eustass and Killer head for the front door. "Wait. You mean now? Not in another hour or so?"

Eustass offered a playful grin over his shoulder, and even though he and Law were avoiding one another's eyes, the red head had little doubt that Law could see that he was amused by his reactions. Law puffed up a little, looking pissed off at Eustass.

"I don't want to leave right now." Law tensed defensively on the couch at the way Eustass turned around to face him, and just appeared to realize then and there that Eustass probably could and would carry him out the door if he felt so inclined to do so.

"We gotta walk to the hospital, and that's about two miles. I don't have a car, and neither does Killer." Eustass didn't make a move toward Law, and merely stared at the other man as if the doctor were trying his patience.

Law still looked like he didn't want to leave, though whether it was the idea of walking or going to the hospital, Eustass couldn't tell.

"The cops don't patrol the area, so you don't have to worry about that." Eustass wondered if that might be part of the problem, because the doctor looked a little bit reassured over that particular bit of news, though Law opened his mouth then and annoyed Eustass a bit.

"Is leaving at four in the afternoon really necessary when you do not have to be somewhere until…was it six or seven?"

"Do I need to carry you or something?" Eustass tried another approach. "You still tired or something? 'Cause if you are, I'll do it." That earned the red head a glare. Eustass continued on, entertained that he was getting a rise out of the other man. "I haven't had my workout today, so I could get some weight training done by hauling your skinny ass around."

"You will do no such thing." Law sounded as if he couldn't tell if Eustass were teasing him or not, and had crossed his arms to further show how opposed to the idea he was.

Eustass opened the apartment door. "Well, we're goin' then. Try not to scream again or you might make one of the neighbors come over."

Law shot a look in the direction of Eustass' closed bedroom door, shuddered ever so slightly, and then, with obvious reluctance, toed on his dirty shoes and followed Eustass and Killer out of the apartment without another word of protest.

Once outside, however, Law appeared to come to the realization that he was out in the open and exposed, despite Eustass' earlier reassurance that the cops would likely not come out this far from the city. And when he saw another mirror, he seemed to loose all reasoning.

-x-

Law saw the mirror, and everything around him seemed to no longer matter.

The mirror was broken, the glass surface cracked into splinters that no longer reflected as well as it had while whole. It was propped against a garbage dump, and as the bin was full, the person discarding the mirror decided to leave it outside anyway, and Law found that his eyes were unwillingly drawn to it. Panic welled within him at the sight, but Law fought it down as best he could, and took several deep breaths.

It was just a mirror.

A broken mirror.

That was all. There was nothing for it to reflect, not from this distance, and Law couldn't see his refection from where he stood-

Something seemed to move across the many splintered, spider web-like cracks of the mirror, and that caused Law to tense up. The dark haired doctor felt humiliated that a mirror could make him react so badly, and could barely hear Killer' speaking to him.

"The garbage only gets picked up once a month. A lot of people are nervous to come out here to this area, even if it is just to collect the garbage and recycling."

Law didn't register the words very well, as he was still standing rigid. His gaze was unwillingly locked onto the broken mirror as if another shadowy form was about to try and crawl its way out of the glass to get him and drag him in.

As if that hadn't already happened in Eustass' apartment.

As if Law hadn't already cried out in sheer terror at the sight before.

As if he didn't have enough things to keep him awake at night already.

The longer Law stared at the mirror, the more it seemed as if the damn inanimate object had become his worst nightmare on solid form.

Eustass clearly did not see the dark haired doctor's expression, and had only noticed that Law had stopped walking. Clearly, the red head had been trying to get Law's attention, which, considering the doctor's full focus on the mirror, was harder than the other man likely thought it should be. Eustass must have attempted to speak to him one too many times because Law suddenly found the red head all but breathing down his neck.

"What the hell are you doing?"

It wasn't so much Eustass' words but his presence that startled Law from staring at the mirror, and as he whipped around, about to hiss at Eustass to stay away from him, the red head had already begun to act. Law had not expected Eustass to introduce a clenched fist to his abdomen in a painful but not punishing strike, and before Law could get his breath back, the doctor found himself hoisted over and onto Eustass' left shoulder.

"You're acting weird again. You not seeing somethin' again?"

Law didn't dignify that with an answer as he scrabbled his hands against the red head's broad back at the sudden shift in perception. Soon enough, Law realized that it was useless to claw at Eustass' back as the red head merely pressed his left arm over his thighs to hold him in place, and started to walk as if he did this sort of thing all the time. The difference in strength made Law uneasy, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Put me down." Law demanded, alarmed at being carried in such a manner, mainly because Law recalled that it was similar to how Eustass had carried Trafalgar once they'd gotten out of the tunnel Kid had dug over a hundred years previous. The doctor promptly tried to not think about it, but found it hard with Eustass' hand pressed tight against his thighs. At the very least, the red head's hands did not wander, and Eustass was merely carrying through on his suggestion to carry Law to the hospital.

"Told you I would carry you. You weigh nothing, anyway, so giving you a lift to the hospital is no problem." Eustass' hand rested a tad bit heavier. "So stop squirming around so much."

"It's a problem to me." Law hissed icily.

"That's too bad." Eustass responded unconcernedly as he continued to walk along down a shittily made sidewalk, Killer trailing along after them with an expression a peculiar combination of amused and perplexed. It appeared as if Killer was going to do nothing about Eustass' actions unless the red haired man ended up intimidating or harassing Law.

Law quieted after about ten minutes, and just went limp over Eustass' shoulder, like he just didn't care anymore.

Eustass seemed to sense this and loosened his grip, but of course, that was exactly what Law had been waiting for. About halfway to their destination, Law jabbed Eustass lightly in the side, and the reaction was immediate. Eustass jerked, and Law realized belatedly that that was close to where the red head had been shot by Doflamingo around six months ago. Law braced himself against the other man's back because he could tell Eustass was not pleased at all.

"Shit, what the fuck?" Eustass cursed, but didn't let go of Law until he'd come to a halt. Then he set Law down, and loomed over him.

Law avoided eye contact, and for now, Eustass didn't seem to care.

"What the hell was that for?" Eustass grit out irritably.

Law leveled his gaze on Eustass briefly as he jabbed a thumb to his shirt with the 'fuck off' print, before he hurried after Killer, who had continued to walk without stopping.

-x-

Eustass wasn't sure whether to be amused or annoyed by Law's lack of response, before he grumbled under his breath and followed to catch up to his roommate and Law, who looked decidedly displeased when the red head chose to walk alongside him. Eustass flashed the doctor a laid back grin, and at the very least, Law did not flinch, and merely shot Eustass a dour look in response to such a childish act.

"We're almost there. See? It's up ahead."

Killer's voice broke Eustass and Law out of glowering at one another as the two of them caught sight of the hospital they approached. Law's expression was apprehensive once more, while Eustass snorted and gave the building a very unimpressed look.

What a dump.

The hospital wasn't big by modern standards, and it looked to only have four floors, and possibly a basement level. But what it lacked in levels it made up in just how big of a building in was for the lot that it was on. Grass was overgrown across the lawn, the cement of the ground for walkways cracked and letting nature take over there as well. The hospital had its front door intact, though just barely, as the wood was splinted down the center. One good kick and it would likely break under the pressure.

The windows weren't in much better shape, many of them on the side of the building that could be seen cracked, and even gone in some places, exposing those parts of the building to the elements.

The hospital itself was made from brick, it appeared, and creeping ivy had begun a steady assent to the top of the building. There was another, smaller building nearby; likely a caretaker's home, though clearly by the state of the grounds and the hospital itself, no one had lived there in decades.

Law gave the decrepit hospital one good long look before he stayed true to his word and sat down on a bench near the caretaker building. From the doctor's expression, he was not going to be moving from where he was seated anytime soon.

Eustass looked at the hospital again, and could see that, along with a potential ghost haunting, the building looked like pieces of it could fall apart in an instant. The red head's eyes lingered on a large chimney in the center of the hospital, before Eustass noted that it was more off to the left of the entire building. It seemed excessively large for the building itself, but Eustass wasn't going to argue building designs from over 100 years ago.

"Do you want to go do a perimeter check or do you want to stay here with Law?" Killer broke into Eustass' thoughts about the hospital's poor construction planning.

Eustass glanced at Law, whose eyes were closed, before the red head shook his head. It was clear that the other man didn't care for his company, though whether that was Kid's spirit's fault, Eustass wasn't sure. "I'll go do it. I have my cell if there's a problem." The red head saw his roommate's nod before setting off toward the large hospital looming before him. Eustass highly doubted that there was going to be a problem, from the general shitty state the place was in, especially those broken windows.

"Be careful, Kid." Killer called after him.

"I know, I know, don't worry about it." Eustass said, offering a lazy hand wave without turning around. While Eustass may not have thought there'd be a problem, he did have the thought in a few minutes' time he may have wished he'd remembered to bring some of those walkie-talkies.

-x-

Eustass circled the entire building looking for ways in, and unless someone was going to crawl up the side of a brick building bare handed, it wouldn't be easy. The back door of the hospital was stuck fast, and the windows on the ground level of the building were intact, and showed no signs of having been tampered with recently. The bars across some of them helped drive home that fact. Satisfied that the only way in was the front door, Eustass went back to it and shoved the surprisingly heavy door open, and ignored the fact that it was warped and slowly closed again.

The red haired man allowed his eyes to adjust to the gloom of the interior, and saw that he'd walked into what appeared to be a lobby, complete with small service desk several paces ahead of him, and a few broken chairs and a table in two halves off to his left. To his right, there was a small set of stairs that led up to an open doorway, that led, Eustass presumed, to a hall of hospital rooms or something. It was a big space, but not as big as most modern lobbies in hospitals.

A few steps in and Eustass came to a dead halt. His eyes drawn to something near the small set of stairs that led to the open doorway of the hall.

Someone was crumpled on the ground.

Eustass hadn't seen them because of how dark it was in the hospital, sepite some of the afternoon sun still making its way inside. Eustass quickly looked around, saw nothing that might leap out at him from the shadows, and approached the figure on the ground. And the closer he got, the more weirded out Eustass became.

For one thing, there were what appeared to be scorch marks on the ground, around where the figure, whom Eustass could now make out was a man with blond hair, had collapsed. This was not something that Eustass had expected to come across as he'd expected, at most, to have to terrify a group of teens out of there. And the red haired man most certainly hadn't expected for a 2x4 of splintered wood in the far right corner of the room to suddenly launch itself at him.

Eustass jerked back out of sheer surprise as the board of wood whipped past his face, and watched, stunned, as the 2x4 piece of wood landed on the desk with a loud clatter.

What the hell?

Eustass pointedly ignored the whole occurrence in favor of looking down at the blond, whom had started to stir. Anything to distract him from paranormal activity, which looked like it was here in the hospital after all.

_So many games. And they're all so much fun._

Fuck, the voices had started again.

_Do you want to play some games now, Eustass-ya?_

Eustass mentally told the echo of Trafalgar's voice to fuck off and stared hard at the blond on the ground, wondering briefly if the man was Sabo, until he realized how snappily dressed the blond was. A suit. The fucker was wearing a suit in a dusty, abandoned hospital.

What the fuck?

_Do you know what I see in the dark when I'm with you?_

Eustass made a vain attempt to focus on the man on the ground and not the taunting tease the whispered echo of Trafalgar's voice had in his head.

_I see someone who is exactly like me._

Eustass might have started heckling the half-awake blond had the man not lifted his head to stare at him in return. And that was when Eustass saw it. A curly eyebrow over the blond haired man's left eye. Eustass couldn't tell if the man's other eye was curly, as the blond hair hung down in front of the right side of his face, obscuring it. It was for the best. Eustass really didn't want to see more curl then he already had because really, what in the world was that? Had then man drawn it on?

That, more than anything, helped tune out Trafalgar's whispers, even as Eustass ignored the fact that he himself had no eyebrows to speak of.

The man in the suit got to his feet and Eustass finally realized that the blond had been speaking to him, and Eustass had been so distracted by an eyebrow that defied logic, and Trafalgar's unwanted voice, that he hadn't heard the question.

"I said, did you see a guy with green hair come in here?"

"No." Eustass replied, as he hadn't been in the hospital long enough to see if anyone else was skulking about.

"Damn moss head, wandering off like that when he heard what kind of place this was." The blond said in exasperation as he dug a pack of cigarettes out of a pocket and lit one and took an irritable pull of nicotine.

Before Eustass could demand to know who the fuck curly brow here was and why he was there, a familiar voice spoke as the front door creaked open and shut again.

"Kid, you're early." Footsteps echoed in the small room as Sabo crossed the lobby to stand alongside Eustass, before he nodded and greeted the other blond. "I didn't expect you here so soon either, Sanji." Sabo looked around. "Where's Zoro?"

"Got himself lost, as usual." Sanji replied, sounding put upon. "He'll turn up eventually."

Eustass glanced between the two blond haired men, bristled at being ignored, and chose to growl at Sabo. "What the fuck is going on here?"

"Sanji's going to be a part of the investigation. Zoro too, once we find where he got to." Sabo returned, clearly immune and unconcerned with the way Eustass was glowering at him.

Eustass turned his eyes on curly eyebrow. "This guy? How useful is he gonna be if he was unconscious?"

Neither blond cared to grace that with an answer.

Sanji, in fact, ignored Eustass completely as he smoked his cigarette and spoke to Sabo.

"There's poltergeist activity here, at the very least. There was something else that used the poltergeist as cover to take a hit at me, but I managed to drive whatever it was away with fire-"

"What the hell do you mean you drove it away with fire?" Eustass was confused, and he didn't like being out of the loop and looking like a fool. That Sanji looked at him like he was didn't help, until Sabo stepped in and explained, or tried to.

"Sanji is a-"

"I try to keep that quiet, Sabo," Sanji cut in.

"Fine." Sabo agreed. "Later, then, when you want to talk about it, because I have a feeling it will come up." To Eustass, Sabo continued, "Kid, Sanji can used magic, like Hawkins, but whereas Hawkins relies on his talismans for his spells, Sanji is more affiliated with fire."

"Like Ace?" Eustass ventured. He was pretty sure he remembered hearing about the black haired teen's antics when he realized he could use pyrokinesis and set things on fire with his mind.

"Something like that." Sabo agreed, as if pleased Eustass was following along. "But where Ace sets thing around him on fire, Sanji can create it and set parts of himself on fire."

"Usually my legs." Sanji commented, as if this were normal as he casually flicked ash off the end of his cigarette. "Makes it easier to strike things if I can focus the magic on a small part of my body. It also makes the spell more effective."

Eustass looked between the two, and decided they were fucking with him. And said as much. "This is you trying to trick me again, isn't it? Like when you said I didn't have to worry about being possessed and all that." The red head glared accusingly at Sabo, but the wavy haired blond didn't get a chance to speak, because suddenly, the fucking 2x4 was mysteriously flung from the service desk, and made a beeline straight for the red head's face.

Heat passed before Eustass, and the red head saw, in a state of disbelief, that Sanji's legs were on fire as he struck the board midair and shattered it in two. Sanji then seemed to float through the air as he leaded and lashed out with a leg. The blond seemed to hit something, based on the give of the foot and whatever it had come into contact with.

Neither Sabo not Eustass moved, though in the red head's case it was because he couldn't believe what he was seeing right before his eyes.

The flames licking around Sanji's legs dissipated as he landed with an irritated tsk, stomping his cigarette out beneath his nearest foot as he turned to speak to Sabo. "Make that poltergeist activity, something that has not so nice intentions, and at least one spirit that doesn't want us to be here."

"Did you get it?" Sabo asked, looking around.

"No, it was more like I startled it." Sanji returned, his attention on the doorway to the right. "I think it went in that direction."

"Well, let's go back out and get everyone caught up on the history of this place and what we might find. The owner of the property can tell us what she can, as well, so we know more about what we're getting into here. We'll need to go through the whole place and set up cameras anyway." Sabo suggested.

Eustass allowed himself to be led out of the hospital, still shocked into silence because holy shit, someone's legs had been on fire and they hadn't burned. The state left Eustass a little bit as Sanji crossed the overgrown lawn to have a was sudden shouting match with a green haired man outside of the caretaker's house. The man's left eye was closed with a cut through it, though this didn't stop the man's sole eye from reflecting ire at Sanji. The two men bitched one another out regarding the green haired man, Zoro's, sense of direction, or lack thereof.

But when a pretty, long haired woman who had been the one to put the call in for them all to come investigate the hospital, Sanji immediately abandoned his argument with Zoro to go wriggle and fawn over and generally make an ass of himself in front of the woman.

Eustass was very confused, but overall, Sanji's reaction to the woman, as well as Koala, and the fact that ghostly activity and magical abilities were a thing…

It seemed to put into perspective the overall weirdness that the upcoming investigation was going to bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, an FYI. The chimney was mentioned for a reason, as it will be one of the hot spots in the hospital, so to speak, in terms of paranormal activity. And if anyone has seen Ghost Hunters/Ghost Adventures, think of this fics' hospital as a combination of all the hospitals those teams had visited (and a little dash of the gigantic mansion in the Ghost Hunt anime, with people disappearing at random). I'm considering drawing a clearer floor plan/map of the hospital and its grounds, and posting it on Tumblr, if anyone would be interested. I have a rough doodle of the hospital layout because it helps me when I write.


	4. Smiles in the Dark

The caretaker's home on the grounds of the Grand Line Hospital was small, with only a bed on the far left end of the home, a large table directly in the entrance to the home, and a small, half functional kitchen on the far right side. Extra chairs had been brought into the small home for everyone to sit around the table, and as soon as those gathered were settled, Sabo began to speak as Koala spread out documents and pictures on the table for everyone to see.

"Robin asked us here to investigate, on short notice, so this is what I and Koala have gathered so far."

The owner of the property, a black haired woman, by the name of Nico Robin, smiled at Sabo.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice."

To Robin's right was Koala, and to her left, Sanji, who was smiling at the black haired woman dreamily. Sanji seemed to forget where he was at that point in time in favor of gazing longingly a Robin. Eustass was seated next to Law, and while neither seemed to like the seating arrangement, they didn't voice any complaints. Killer chose to forgo the chair and leaned against a nearby wall to watch the proceedings.

"I think that this is everyone for tonight." Sabo announced. "Marco and Hawkins will stop by tomorrow or the next day." The wavy haired blond turned to Robin again. "Could you give us a brief overview of the hospital, and why you chose to buy the land, as well as why you've called us in now."

"Of course." Robin said. "The Grand Line Hospital was in operation for over 100 years, and it has been abandoned for the last 50 years, because of the near hospitals that have been opened over the course of time that were better equipped to take care of and treat the patients." Robin pulled a sheet of paper toward her, looked it over, and, after a brief nod at something she read, added. "It was recorded about 25 years ago that this hospital was briefly opened to be used as storage for the other hospitals. It's most recent use, before I bought the building and its land, is recorded 10 years ago. It was used as a storm shelter, though there have been reports of casualties when the debris went through broken windows and injured the people sheltering the storm." Robin paused, and, with a small smile, said, "I was interested in researching the history of such a place, with all of the stories surrounding it. That is the main reason I purchased it when given the option."

"Have there been any other investigations here before you called us in?" Sabo asked, as Koala busily scribbled things down in a notebook.

"There have been a few." Robin agreed. "Though the ones that I know of what took place before I acquired the land." The black haired woman's face became thoughtful. "The people who I have let in before couldn't find any concrete evidence of the paranormal, but there were personal experiences many of them couldn't begin to explain, to me or themselves."

"And what about the investigations prior to your ownership of the land?" Koala asked, pausing her jotting down of information.

"What I've found has been from the documents I have come across and from a few people I've spoken to. The investigations into the paranormal activity of the hospital started about 22 years ago, 3 years after the hospital personal stopped using it as storage for equipment." Robin produced a small, leather bound book and consulted it before speaking again. "It seems that there was an incident that caused the hospital to be abandoned altogether at that point, and word got around that the Grand Line Hospital was haunted."

"And the incident?" Sabo queried.

"That's the thing." Robin looked up from the book. "It isn't recorded. There are only speculations. In one version, a nurse was killed in the post op room. In another, more reliable version, some people were caved in on the lowest level of the hospital, underground. When emergency personnel arrived, only one person was pulled alive from the rubble. There were four people missing, and since that day none of them have ever been found."

"What do you think happened?" Koala asked.

Robin smiled at Koala oddly. "I think that something terrible happened, and that's why I contacted you. Other teams who have been to the Grand Line Hospital were either trying to prove or disprove the existence of paranormal activity." Robin looked around those gathered at the table. "What I want from you is to find the truth."

-x-

Law had heard of the Grand Line Hospital before, having worked at several hospitals in the vicinity of this one. He'd heard of the rumors, of course, but the dark haired surgeon had never really put any real belief into thoughts of the hospital actually being haunted. But after what Law had been through and witnessed, perhaps there was something to those rumors after all. In any case, it meant that Law most certainly would not be stepping foot into the old building, just as he'd previously thought.

The dark haired surgeon reluctantly tuned back into the conversation going on around him in time to hear the man in the suit, Sanji, speak. Law wished he didn't hear what the blond had to say, based on the subject matter Sanji chose to discuss then and there. The blond haired man was describing how he had been attacked by something unseen that appeared to be masquerading as poltergeist activity.

"There's at least one spirit in that hospital that doesn't want us to be there." Sanji considered his pack of cigarettes he had in hand. "Whether it is for our own safety or the spirit being defensive, I couldn't say at this point in time." Sanji pocketed the box. "Then there is the poltergeist activity itself."

Law tuned the blond out again and looked around with a minute shift of his head to the side. He was seated at the far end of the table, and so he couldn't slip away without those seated nearby seeing him do so. Not that they would care, but Law didn't want to seem intimidated by the conversation in any way whatsoever. So the dark haired doctor put his attentions elsewhere as the conversation continued on.

Elsewhere happened to be looking out the nearest window that faced the hospital. Truth be told, it wasn't the kind of distraction that Law had wanted, because with the setting sun, the hospital was presented in a menacing glow. Law took a shallow breath, not entirely sure why he felt the hair rise on the back of his neck nor why the surgeon suddenly had a cold, dreadful feeling that he shouldn't have looked at the hospital. It was then, looking at the window, that Law realized it wasn't the hospital itself but the window that was bothering him and giving him a crawling sensation.

The window was more reflective than most, making it almost mirror-like...

Law found himself frozen in place, either unable or unwilling to look away from the reflective surface. The doctor's senses screamed at him that he should, at the very least, close his eyes.

He couldn't.

Law almost helplessly felt compelled to look at the window, and his body stiffened in shock when he saw what appeared to be a wide, teeth-bearing grin, and it didn't belong to Eustass, even though the man was reflected in the window right beside him in another chair.

The unnerving bared teeth belonged to no one in that building.

The figure Law soon saw with the teeth was blurred, but the teeth were crystal clear, and when that figure moved within Law's sight, the dark haired man felt something icy cold brush one shoulder, similar to where the blurred figure in the mirror was.

Right behind him.

Law launched himself out of the chair like a man possessed, unable to even utter a sound as the cold had nearly frozen him further in place. That cold spot was gone, but Law could still feel the unseen touch he'd received, and the low breathing against one ear. Law scrambled further away from the chair when he felt the cold return, and something seized his shoulder more tightly before it again vanished.

It made Law panic and throw himself to the ground, as if being out of sight of the window would help. Unfortunately, Law struck his head against the nearest table leg in his hasty departure from the chair, and stunned himself in the process. Law dropped limply to the floor the rest of the way amidst startled sounds from the others in the room.

The dark haired man was already losing consciousness, so the most he noticed of everyone else's reaction was someone on the ground next to him, shaking his shoulder and calling to him, and the only thing Law could do was let out a sigh of relief that the touch wasn't freezing cold.

Law knew that had he had his eyes open, he would have been mortified to see the reactions of everyone else, though Law would have then known that Eustass had a dark look in his eyes, as if the red head knew exactly what had happened. But right now, all Law knew was that he had really bad luck as of late, because he had no escape and no relief, not even in his dreams.

-x-

_'You gonna leave me again?'_

_Law's eyes squeezed shut, despite the fact that he knew,_ knew, _that he was dreaming again. And to his dread, the dream, or rather, nightmare, was more realistic than before, and the only reason Law could contribute as to why was because he'd seen Eustass briefly before falling unconscious. But Law knew that the other man would never do this to him, and again, it was bizarre and disquieting that Kid and Eustass resembled one another so much._

_'I won't let you.'_

_The dark haired surgeon kept his eyes shut, because Law didn't want to know if he could see Kid pressed up behind him, hands roving and one of those limbs decidedly cold and metal._

_'You gonna play or not?' The non-metal hand drifted down along Law's bare skin._

_Law wanted to know why, psychologically, he was dreaming of himself naked, because that needed answers._

_'Turn that head off, doc, and pay attention to me.' Kid's voice sounded like more of an echo, but it was still so close that it made Law's skin crawl as the red head's hand drifted lower. 'You like this, yeah?'_

_Law choked back any sound he may have otherwise uttered when he felt Kid stroke him, but the surgeon couldn't help but buck into that hand after being touched for some time. It was humiliating to be reacting in this manner, and Law struggled desperately to not react any more than he already had. Law nearly let out a cry of relief when Kid let go of him, but it didn't last long, because the sensation of something cool and wet went down his lower back, and suddenly, Law found himself pressed face down into soft material, indicating there was a bed. Before Law could ponder how that had happened, Kid had decided to grind up against him._

_'I told you to stop thinkin' doc. Let's have some fun.'_

_Law gripped the sheets uselessly, the memory of Kid doing this before overwhelming him. The memories blended from when Trafalgar had possessed his body and the two spirits had fucked one another, and the memory of Trafalgar paralyzing him as a spirit with cold while Kid fucked him against a wall. The way Law had felt ashamed of wrapping his arms around Kid's neck and unable to stop the torment being visited upon him. And right now?_

_Law couldn't move._

_Couldn't wake up._

_The dark haired surgeon could only feel Kid's hands settling at his hips, and the insistent, painful press that heralded the red head's intentions. Law gripped the sheets tight, unable to prevent a whimper from rising out of him when he felt Kid succeed in sinking partway in. The way the red head uttering a satisfied growl. Law took a shuddering gasp of air when Kid adjusted, and winced when there was a bite to the side of his neck._

_Why did he feel that?_

_Why did Law feel all of these sensations when he was asleep?_

_Why?_

_The first thrust was light; a warning for Law to pay attention to the now._

_Law didn't want to focus on the now._

_He wanted,_ needed _, to wake up._

_'Trafalgar.'_

_"I'm not...him." Law managed to rasp, again marveling at just how real this nightmare felt. The surgeon took a few shallow breaths even as he felt Kid's own breath puff against a shoulder. Law cried out when Kid thrust several times with a displeased grumble, until he stopped. Law squeezed his eyes shut as tight as they could go. Kid was all the way in now, and seemed to be content to stay there until he had his say._

_'Quit fucking with me, Trafalgar.'_

_Law felt himself pressed face down into the bed further as the thrusting resumed, and Law hated how he felt his own body beginning to react to this treatment._

_The dark haired man needed this to end._

_To wake up._

_But he didn't._

_He didn't wake up._

_Not until Kid had finished with him, and pulled out carelessly to drag Law's limp body against the red head's chest._

_'You can't hide forever.'_

_At the feeling of a hand wrapping around his shaft, Law somehow managed to find it in himself to wake up._ _But the damage was done, and Law could only hope that Eustass wasn't the first person he saw when he woke._

_It would only make things worse._

-x-

Law just barely managed to prevent himself from letting loose a cry upon waking, and felt further shamed when he realized his body was not indifferent to the nightmare he'd just had. Just like before, when he'd woken in Kid's apartment. It might have been his imagination, but Law could have sworn his ass was sore as well, but soon deemed that to be lingering sensations from the dream.

He was alone in a bed, presumably in the caretaker's house, and Law supposed that might explain why he had been on a bed in the nightmare.

Law's attention drifted back to his aching dick, and, with a furtive look around the small room, wriggled free of his pants and wrapped a hand around himself and started to stroke. The fact that he had gotten aroused by being raped in a dream again disturbed Law, but he couldn't think straight while he was still so hard. Try as Law might, he couldn't finish himself off, and, with a faint growl of frustration, Law lay still and fumed briefly until he settled on something that he would later deny.

Law's hand started to move, his thoughts drifting unwillingly to Eustass, and as soon as Law had finished, the dark haired doctor slipped out of bed to clean up, and try and hide the evidence on the sheets. When that was finished, Law sat on the bed and frowned, slightly disturbed that he had managed to come because he had been thinking about Eustass.

Again.

That the red head looked the same as Kid yet elicited a different reaction made Law wonder again what it meant. The dark haired man promptly dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come. Neither he nor Eustass would likely want to even consider an attraction between them considering what had happened because of Trafalgar and Kid.

If there was actually a real attraction between them at all.

Killer came into the caretaker's house, and that was successful in distracting Law from rather his disconcerting thoughts.

"You're awake."

"Where are the others?" Law asked, hoping to evade being asked about why he had passed out in the first place.

"Kid and the others went along with Robin to map out any hot spots in the hospital, and where they will want to set up cameras." Killer glanced back at the door. "Koala mentioned something about generators, since only some of the areas of the hospital have access to electricity."

Law fidgeted, mainly because of the lingering thoughts of the nightmare, but he was grateful that he was not a part of the initial walk through of the hospital. Not that Law wanted any part of the investigation to begin with. No, Law was only there to lie low and figure out what he was going to do until he was able to see Marco. Killer's next words threw the dark haired man completely for a loop and straight back into a defensive mode.

"Sabo wants you to help with the investigation. He thinks that you and Eustass would be able to help debunk potential haunted areas because of what happened to the two of you...before."

-x-

Eustass was trying very hard to pay attention and take notes about where the cameras and voice recorders would go, but a sudden resurgence in the echos of Trafalgar's voice took hold of him. It made it hard to focus on the present when the son of a bitch's voice distracted Eustass so much.

_'So very much fun to be had here.'_

Eustass scribbled a note on the pad of paper he held at something Koala had said, even as the red head's jaw set.

_'How long do you think you can hold out, Eustass-ya?'_

The red head came to a halt just inside of a patient room, but that didn't set off any red flags to those around him, as they had also come to a halt while Robin explained something about the room. About someone dying in it. But Eustass didn't track what was being said because Trafalgar fucking Law the spirit's voice was whispering insidiously in his head.

_'We're the same, aren't we, Eustass-ya? You want to fall, don't you?'_

Eustass wasn't sure what that meant but he didn't like the sound of it.

_'It's only a matter of time before it happens, you know.'_

Eustass took a breath and let it out, unaware that Zoro seemed to be notice something was wrong.

"Hey, curly brow, there's something here." The green haired man suddenly commented, as he exchanged glances with Sanji. "You feel it?"

"Yeah. Where'd it come from?" The blond haired man narrowed his eyes in return, though it was in the direction the group had come into the room.

_'I'll be waiting for you, Eustass-ya.'_

Eustass barely noticed that Sanji had moved past him, and it was only when the curly browed man's foot flared with fire and kicked at thin air did the red head's thoughts seem to clear, and Trafalgar's sly voice left his mind. Eustass wasn't sure what that had all been about, but he felt a hell of a lot better after whatever the hell Sanji had done.

"Someone's messing with us." The green haired man commented. "The area feels dead now. No spirits or poltergeists."

"It seems like it." Sanji agreed, as he looked around the immediate area. "Whatever it is left the area, for now. Why didn't we feel the change sooner?"

Eustass resumed taking notes, though he was more concerned with the fact that Sanji was giving him an odd look. Then again, the red head also realized that he no longer had the sensation of being watched. Something Eustass hadn't even realized, and now that he was paying attention, the feel of the room was now, as Zoro put it, dead.

What had it felt like right before the presence left? Had Eustass been too distracted by the voices in his head to notice? Why was it that only Zoro and Sanji seemed to have noticed the presence?

At that point in time, Eustass was merely grateful that he didn't hear any more voices whispering in his head that evening, though the red head felt that it wasn't going to be the last time he heard those echos of Trafalgar and Kid's voices.

Why that was, Eustass didn't know.

-x-

No one, not even Sanji and Zoro, noticed movement just outside the room, of a shadowy figure flitting away from the open doorway, and going further into the hospital, only to vanish among the shadows there.

Something far more solid and tangible entered the hospital from another, secreted away door to the hospital some minutes later, and that person's intentions were far from friendly. A grin seemed to materialize, before the tall figure found a suitable room to wait in. After all, Marco was not there that night, and therefore no one would know that he was even there.

Doflamingo grinned sharply in the darkness, having only a flashlight on hand should he need it. Despite being on the run from the cops, he would have his answers, and with the aid of someone he knew, working things behind the scenes in this hospital, Doflamingo would be able to lure Law and Eustass to him. One intrusion into Law's dreams had not given him any results, so Doflamingo had decided that being in person would be the next step to getting what he wanted.

The truth.

And truth was something that Doflamingo would only consider accepting face to face, as sometimes, being in someone's dreams, they could lie to him. And Doflamingo needed to know if Trafalgar had lied to him while Doflamingo had presumably met him in his dreams in the land of the dead.

"Fufufu." Doflamingo chuckled eerily at the thought of being lied to. If he found out that Trafalgar and Kid happened to still be around, hiding their spirits in Law and Eustass as before...

Doflamingo's grin stretched into a nasty smile as he tapped the flashlight against one knee.

Well, the older blond had ideas about what he would do should that be the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter. But now the fun (?) can begin. I think I'll stop guessing how long chapters will be and just let them happen when they happen (and when IRL stuff isn't getting in the way).
> 
> To clarify: this fic takes place a little after a section in ch 53 of A Twisted Game, where Doflamingo had decided he had made a deal he shouldn't have (before the 150 years later break of the chapter) and that is why Doflamingo is still around in this fic, as he needs a final confirmation that Trafalgar is no longer around.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Longer first chapter because this is one of those fics where I may do lots of updates for it in a short amount of time, or I may only do one on occasion, depending on how I feel any given day (and then take time to update other fics). This is also a kind of up in the air will there be any romance, because it will mainly be Eustass and Law struggling with how Kid and Trafalgar were around each other and whether any feelings that might be there are real or if they are imagined because of what they went through. I'm going to try not to confuse people but I'll see how it goes.


End file.
